As an optical waveguide connector which is used in the case where an optical waveguide such as an optical fiber ribbon or a polymer waveguide is connector-connected to another optical component, the configuration shown in FIG. 4 is known.
In the optical waveguide connector 1 shown in the figure, a tip end portion of a planar optical waveguide 2 is housed and held in a ferrule 3.
In the ferrule 3, as shown in FIG. 4(a), an insertion hole 3b through which the optical waveguide 2 is to be passed is penetratingly formed in the body 3a having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. A pair of positioning holes 3c into which positioning pins for positioning with respect to a counter connector component (for example, an MT connector) are to be press inserted are formed in the body 3a in which the insertion hole 3b is opened.
After an adhesive agent 5 is filled into a gap between the insertion hole 3b and the optical waveguide 2 inserted into the insertion hole 3b of the ferrule 3, and the optical waveguide is fixed to the ferrule 3 by curing of the adhesive agent 5, the tip end face 2a of the optical waveguide is polished.
As a method of producing the ferrule 3, conventionally, a production method in which a ferrule is produced by injection molding of a resin material has been widely used. In this case, the insertion hole 3b and the positioning holes 3c are formed by combining a core for producing the insertion hole 3b and the positioning holes 3c with upper and lower dies for forming the outer shell of the body 3a. 
In the case of the optical waveguide connector 1 having the above-described structure, in order to suppress the connection loss with the counter connector to a low level, it is necessary to reduce the axial misalignment between an optical fiber of the counter connector and the optical waveguide 2 in the optical waveguide connector 1 as far as possible. In order to realize this, in addition to reduction of the positional misalignment (axial misalignment) between the connector center defined by the pair of positioning holes 3c and the center of the insertion hole 3b, it is essential to accurately form the insertion hole 3b in accordance with the outer diameter dimension of the optical waveguide 2.
In the case where the above-mentioned polymer waveguide is used as the optical waveguide 2, when the connection loss with the counter connector is to be suppressed to a low level of, for example, 0.3 dB or less, it is essential to accurately form the insertion hole 3b so that the clearance between the insertion hole 3b and the optical waveguide 2 is several μm or less.
In the outer diameter dimension of a polymer waveguide, usually, the width dimension w is about 3 to 5 mm, and the thickness dimension t is about 100 μm. The outer diameter dimension is very smaller than that of a conventional optical fiber ribbon.
Therefore, the core which is used for molding the insertion hole 3b in molding dies for the ferrule 3 is formed as a thin piece having a thickness of about 100 μm, and hence easily deformed. In production of the ferrule 3, consequently, there arise problems such as that the yield is lowered because of a mold failure.
In order to prevent such problems from arising, an optical waveguide connector 6 shown in FIG. 5 has been proposed.
In the optical waveguide connector 6, a ferrule 7 which houses and holds a tip end portion of the optical waveguide 2, and which is to be connected to a counter connector has a structure where it is split into vertical halves. Therefore, an upper body 7a and lower body 7b constituting the ferrule 7 have a configuration where an insertion groove 8 constituting an insertion hole through which the optical waveguide 2 is to be passed, and positioning grooves 9 constituting a pair of positioning holes are formed in each butting face (for example, see Patent Reference 1).
According to this structure, during injection molding of the upper body 7a and lower body 7b constituting the ferrule 7, the grooves which will constitute the insertion hole and the positioning holes are exposed from the outer face. Therefore, it is not required to combine a core configured by a thin piece, with the molding dies, and hence molding with a high yield can be realized.
Patent Reference 1: Japanese Patent Publication: JP-A-2000-2820